Developments since c. 1900

Further action arose in the United Kingdom out of social concern about poverty, which was systematically investigated both in London and in York. In 1899 the government carried out an inquiry into the incomes of 12,000 elderly people. The influential precedents for action were those of New Zealand and Denmark, which had made provision for old age without establishing social insurance schemes, in contrast with Germany, where the scheme was based on insurance. In 1908 in Britain, pensions at age 70 were introduced in a noncontributory, income-tested basis, partly because such a scheme could bring immediate ... (100 of 19,269 words)